Thousands of gallons of oil-based material spilled into Flint River

UPDATE: Stay out of the Flint River, Genesee County health officer orders following oil spill

UPDATE: EPA sending on-scene coordinators to assist in Flint River oil spill

(This story has been updated with additional information.)

FLINT, MI -- City, Genesee County and state of Michigan agencies are responding to a significant oil spill in the Flint River.

Officials for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy said the spill, estimated at several thousand gallons, was reported to a state hotline at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, June 15.

Hugh McDiarmid, an EGLE spokesman, said state environmental officials and local emergency responders are in the area of the spill -- James P. Cole Boulevard and I-475 -- and have begun to deploy a boom across the river in an effort to absorb the material.

“We have folks there,” McDiarmid said. “It sounds like a significant spill.”

EGLE officials described the spilled material as oil-based and dark black with a petroleum smell that looks similar to motor oil.

Firefighters can be seen stretching a boom near the Utah Dam off James P. Cole Boulevard. Dark black material is visible on a portion of the water’s surface.

Jill Greenberg, a spokeswoman for EGLE, said the spill appears to be five miles long.

“We’ve identified a potential source, but we are still investigating,” Greenberg said.

The EGLE officials had they did not know if the potential source of the spill is located in the city of Flint.

Kayleigh Blaney, deputy Genesee County health officer, said people should avoid contact with the Flint River based on current information.

Sean McBrearty, coordinator of the Oil & Water Don’t Mix campaign to shut down Line 5, told MLive-The Flint Journal that Wednesday’s spill should serve as a warning.

“For the second time in one week, we have infrastructure that has been called safe and has failed, leaking oil into our waterways and we know it’s not going to be able to be fully cleaned up,” McBrearty said. “No oil spill has ever been fully cleaned up.”

An estimated 5,300 gallons of gear oil spilled at the Algoma Steel mill in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, six days ago.

McBrearty called the Flint River spill “a stark reminder of Enbridge’s nearly 70-year-old Line 5 pipeline which is a constant oil spill threat located in the worst possible location for a spill.”

Read more at The Flint Journal:

Censure motion fails but Flint councilman says he deserved it

Flint mayor’s ARPA plan calls for across-the-board cuts in water bills

Snyder can refuse to answer Flint water questions but only in front of jury

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